Germany suspects that unidentified drones spied on critical infrastructure last week
German authorities believe that unknown drones deliberately flew over critical infrastructure sites last week.
According to Der Spiegel, German authorities are looking into suspicions that a UAV had deliberately flown over key critical infrastructure facilities in Schleswig-Holstein late last week to survey them.
The drone is reported to have flown over a power plant, Kiel University Hospital and the government building in the German province.
According to an internal memo, two small drones were first spotted over the ThyssenKrupp plant on Thursday 25 September shortly after 21:00, and later a "group of drones with a main drone" appeared above the university clinic.
Soon after 22:00, a similar group appeared over a coastal power plant and the Kiel Canal.
Later, a large stationary drone and several smaller flying objects were seen over Kiel Bay. Security sources told Der Spiegel that a group of drones had also flown over the Landeshaus Kiel, the state parliament headquarters. In addition, drones apparently monitored the Heide oil refinery, which, among other things, supplies kerosene to Hamburg airport.
The memo noted that state police, while observing the drones, had seen them flying parallel routes – apparently to precisely measure facilities on the ground.
After the incident, the province's government made only cautious statements. Schleswig-Holstein's Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack said authorities are investigating suspected espionage but gave no details or flight paths.
Earlier this week, Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior also did not provide further information.
The sightings in Schleswig-Holstein were not the only security-related incidents last week.
On Thursday, suspicious drones were also detected over the Sanitz military base in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The following day, a similar incident occurred above the Navy Command in Rostock.
In response to several drone-related incidents in Germany and Europe, the German government is considering allowing the armed forces to shoot down UAVs under certain conditions.